County Cricket Round-Up - 24th April

There were centuries from Gary Wilson and Jimmy Adams as round three of the LV= County Championship got underway. Elsewhere, there were good bowling returns for England seamers Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Tim Bresnan at Derby, Old Trafford and Chester-le-Street.

Derbyshire were bowled out for 256 on day one by Nottinghamshire. The visitors had to make do without one of their frontline bowlers for much of the day after Andre Adams limped off with a recurrence of his calf injury. However, Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney each took four wickets. Broad was the best of the attack and struck early, removing Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen in his third over. Wickets fell regularly in the first of the day, with the home side collapsing to 75 for six at one point. However, Shivnarine Chanderpaul shared useful stands with Jonathan Clare and Tony Palladino. He added 96 with Clare (49) for the seventh-wicket and 68 with Palladino (39) for the ninth-wicket and ended on 87 not out. Nottinghamshire then faced 11 overs in their first innings and survived to close on 28 for none.

Gary Wilson hit a century as Surrey reached stumps against Sussex on 301 for seven. Graeme Smith was extracted early by James Anyon, but Rory Burns and Wilson batted through until lunch. Wilson then added 118 for third-wicket with Vikram Solanki (51) in the afternoon and 66 with Zander de Bruyn (31) as he completed only his second first-class century. Wilson was promoted to number three in Surrey’s batting line-up after Arun Harinath was forced to withdraw from the match after sustaining a blow in the nets. Steve Magoffin then struck twice late on as Sussex fought hard, but the home side will still be pleased with their day’s work.

Only a sprightly innings of 70 from Phil Mustard saved Durham from another embarrassment, this time at the hands of Yorkshire. Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan accounted for an opener apiece early to make it eight for two, before Will Smith and Dale Benkenstein (40) steadied things with a third-wicket stand of 86. Unfortunately, Smith’s dismissal to Bresnan for 42 triggered a collapse of five for 18 prior to Mustard’s counter-attack. He hit 70 off only 107 balls, while there were useful cameos from Callum Thorp (21) and Graham Onions (27). Bresnan was the pick of the Yorkshire attack with four for 41 off 20 overs, while Adlil Rashid chipped in with a brace of wickets towards the end. Liam Plunkett’s return to Chester-le-Street is perhaps best forgotten. He conceded 67 runs off 10 overs for a solitary success.

In Division Two, Northamptonshire had the better of the opening day in Bristol. They bowled Gloucestershire out for 192 and then closed on 107 for three in reply. David Willey (four for 71) struck twice in his opening spell after Gloucestershire had elected to bat, before Michael Klinger (23) and Alex Gidman (20) took the score to 50. More wickets followed, however, as Steven Crook (three for 47) carried on from where he left off in Cardiff and the home side found themselves 111 for seven. There was some lower-order resistance from Cameron Herring, who top-scored with 43 in his maiden first-class innings, and Jack Taylor, but James Middlebrook removed both.

Hampshire romped to 367 for six against an outclassed Worcestershire attack, anchored by an unbeaten 151 from their captain Jimmy Adams. Adams and fellow opener Michael Carberry added 113 in quick time in the morning before Carberry was finally leg-before to the part-time off-spin of Moeen Ali for 62 off only 74 balls. Useful stands between Adams and the middle-order followed throughout the afternoon, with the 82 that he shared with James Vince (52) the best of them. For Worcestershire, Ali was the surprise pick of the attack with three for 77, while there were two for Chris Russell and one for the economical Alan Richardson.

Kent’s batsmen struggled for fluency on the opening day at Old Trafford, reaching stumps on 216 for eight from 96 overs. Sam Northeast departed early to Kyle Hogg (three for 32), but Rob Key (31) and Brendan Nash (50) added 49 for the second-wicket with Nash then adding 70 with Mike Powell for the third-wicket. However, Lancashire’s bowlers kept chipping away and Powell’s long vigil was ended at 57 off his 162nd delivery when he was bowled by James Anderson, who picked up two for 48 on his cricketing return.

Adam Rossington built on a good platform laid by Dawid Malan to rub salt into the wounds of the Cambridge MCCU attack at Fenner’s. He ended on 103 not out off only 57 balls, having plundered seven sixes, and having dominated an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 127 with Malan. Middlesex closed on 438 for four from 102 overs. Adam London had begun their innings well with 81 after Neil Dexter and Joe Denly had fallen relatively cheaply. He shared 124 with Malan for the third-wicket, with Paul Stirling (54) then joining Malan to add 127. Malan reached three figures for the 10th time in his career off 142 balls and closed on 156.

17 wickets fell on an unexpectedly low-scoring day at Grace Road. Leeds/Bradford MCCU were all out for 165, with Leicestershire then replying with 156 for seven. Robbie Williams, Alex Wyatt, Rob Taylor, Shiv Thakor and Claude Henderson each took a brace of wickets as the students were all out with Alexander MacQueen’s 33-ball 36 the highest score. Kent’s Ivan Thomas and former Yorkshire man James Lee (three for 33) then dispensed with Leicestershire’s openers for ducks and it was left to Thakor to prevent a humiliating collapse. He ended on 53 not out, with contributions also coming from skipper Josh Cobb (21), Matthew Boyce (27) and Taylor (25).